dear jehovahs witnesses and ex-jw's .. many of you may not be aware of what life is like in a military state.
i would like to share a part of the shame that jehovah's witnesses elders in southa africa have to bear.. in south africa white males during the 70's and 80's were conscripted into the army from age 16.. during the 80's at the age of 16 i was conscripted.
at age 17 i was sentenced as a minor and was told i would have serve to six years prison.
To this day I suffer from depression, nightmares and post traumatic stress disorder
I still suffer too. I have ongoing health issues with my lungs, psychological disorders related to food (or rather the lack thereof) and 20 years later I still have some pretty awful nightmares. In many respects I learned what it is like to be an animal...
thanks for all your good wishes.
i printed them off and took them in for mike to read.
he is looking great and disconnected from all the machinery etc.
(((Mike)))
Get well soon, bud.
The highest possible rating is 700.
The highest possible rating, given the importance you assigned each issue, is 520.
You rated the Democratic stances 237. Democratic Platform
You rated the Green stances 299. Green Platform
You rated the Libertarian stances 461. Libertarian Platform.
You rated the Republican stances 261. Republican Platform.
i haven't been reading much political stuff here as i've been feeling overwhelmed.
the more i read, condone the what seems to me to be blatant criminal and bigoted actions of the current administration.
i'm not going to defend those statements, it's my opinion and i know the right-wingers are "true believers" when it comes to bush, et al.. i'll be in the fray in other ways, but not on this board.
Patio,
i cannot understand either party...but if I only have a choice between Bush and Kerry I pick Bush - why? One simple reason: he isn't confiscating my money as much as the other idiot wants to.
Go to the website for the Libertarians http://www.lp.org/ I think you will find the platform outlined there to be in line with your views. It is such a pity the party gets no traction among the public.
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if john kerry wins the election: will you respect him as your president?.
will you support him?
yeah, by November we will have gone through a considerable length of time of being convinced that Bush and Kerry are both sumbags due to the way the system works. Then we are expected to decondition ourselves overnight and call the winner "My Leader"????? Yeah right on...I need to install a switch in my makeup.
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if john kerry wins the election: will you respect him as your president?.
will you support him?
I will not likely support him.
But I am not right wing.
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if john kerry wins the election: will you respect him as your president?.
will you support him?
If John Kerry wins the election: will you respect him as your president?
Will you support him?
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this terrible event in your land saddens us all ... i am sorry that those responsible are likely doing this to get revenge upon your nation for its support of the united kingdom, the usa and other coalition of nations devoted to the war on terror ... you and your loved ones killed so tragically are in our thoughts and prayers ... your natioin is honored among us all ... and may you heal from this as quickly as possible.
Tell me, do you think terrorism exists in a vaccum and someone just "decides" one day to become a terrorism? Sure, there may be **odd people** like that but on the whole the conflict is about something.I don't think it's possible to resolve the conflicts until people look at the reasons for it. Otherwise, we just get a spiralling escallation of violence.
On the one hand I agree with this point too - terrorism is about something. The question no one bothers to find out is "what?"
On the other hand I don't care what Bin Laden is about. I want him dead. As far as Bin Laden goes for me it is shoot first and ask questions later because of his crimes against civilians.
Obviously in the short term the issue comes down to: do we negotiate with terrorists?
Let's take a well respected man - probably one of the greatest statesmen of the last century: Nelson Mandela. Mandela was by definition a terrorist. I see the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter as follows: terrorists focus on civilian and soft targets whereas freedom fighters resist the military of their oppressors. Often when freedom fighters start losing they might change tactics and resort to terrorism. Nonetheless Mandela was fighting against oppressors in his own country and used terrorism as a mechanism for doing so. Whether or not we agree with his cause (i happen to agree with it) his tactics were questionable - civilian targets.
Now others might point to the example of Mandela and claim terrorism worked. It never. The changes came about because of 2 reasons: Foreign pressure and a reasonable person came into office in the country and was able to change the screwed up policies of the Apartheid past.
The difference for me is that Bin Laden and his cronies terrorism is not to free themselves from the US - they are not living under the US. I have yet to fully understand what the issues are - but I am willing to be educated. Regardless, for me, Bin Laden's actions have earned him a medal made of solid lead.
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this terrible event in your land saddens us all ... i am sorry that those responsible are likely doing this to get revenge upon your nation for its support of the united kingdom, the usa and other coalition of nations devoted to the war on terror ... you and your loved ones killed so tragically are in our thoughts and prayers ... your natioin is honored among us all ... and may you heal from this as quickly as possible.
Sept 11 was your pigeons coming home to roost
it is easy to infer from this sentence that according to you 9/11 was America's fault or just reward? I appreciate it if you would clarify this for us because I hope this is not what you meant, Simon.
I suppose we should also not talk about things like the holocaust since the British have been responsible for holocausts and concentration camps of their own and the British therefore know all about them.
Simon, these subjects play close to peoples emotions. They are polarising and divisive. Please limit them on the board for all posters. I know I am part of them but I would rather bring them to a head than continue to let people be upset by the other side continuously taking shots...this applies to both sides.
